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Two-peat at Bruin tourney

Bartlesville High School’s varsity boys basketball team hoisted the ConocoPhillips-Arvest Invitational Tournament team trophy for the second straight year, following a 50-45 victory thriller Saturday against Broken Arrow.

Jakob Hartsock, Quinton Smith and Jackson Bart each drained two free throws in the final 21 seconds to secure the Bruins’ triumph against an athletic and hustling Broken Arrow bunch.

A large homecrowd rooted Bartlesville to the grueling win, at the Bruin Fieldhouse, as the Bruins successfully defended their tourney crown from last year.

Hartsock finished with 22 points to pace the Bruins, followed by Bart with 14 — including four three-pointers.

In other final day action, Del City downed Bixby, 52-50, in overtime, for third place; the Tulsa Union junior varsity powered past the Tulsa Central junior varsity, 77-45, for the consolation championship; and Ardmore routed the Broken Arrow jayvee, 66-26, in the seventh place game.

The Broken Arrow-Bartlesville final started a half-hour late — but zipped through the first three quarters in almost record time.

Broken Arrow came out firing the ball and doing something few teams this season have been able to do with the Bruins — match bucket for bucket.

In fact, neither team made a turnover during an opening quarter firestorm that netted 33 points. The Tigers opened the scoring on Trenton Cantrell’s three-pointer.

But, the Bruins quickly noted the score when Hartsock scored, was fouled and nailed his free throw, with 7:10 remaining in the first period.

The score would be tied again at 5-5. Bartlesville later squeezed into the lead, 8-7, when Bart downed the first of his three three-pointers in the opening half.

But, Broken Arrow’s Huffman scored on the other end, off an offensive rebound, to push the Tigers back ahead, 9-8. That lead quickly disappeared, however, as Hartsock skinned the cords with a three-pointer, off an assist from Antonio Castillo, to bump Bartlesville ahead, 11-9. Moments later, Broken Arrow dialed in a trey, off the fingertips of Phelps, to squeeze back into the lead. 12-11.

The end of the period, Broken Arrow owned a one-point bulge, 17-16.

Early in the second period, the Tigers crept out to a three-point lead, 19-16, but Bartlesville pulled even with one stroke of Bart’s wrist, 19-19.

A runner by Broken Arrow’s Cantrell energized the Tigers on a 7-3 run to end the half and carry a 26-22 lead into halftime.

Broken Arrow continued in the third quarter its deliberate offensive assault — but without much success. The Tigers managed just seven points in the period, as Bartlesville hi-jacked the lead, 33-30, after Smith scored on a reverse layup, off a penetration and pass by Castillo.

The teams swapped points during the early part of the final period.

Every time Broken Arrow tried to rally, Bartlesville had an answer on the other end.

Bartlesville began to get some breathing room when Hartsock made a layup to stretch the lead to five, 42-37, with time running out.

Broken Arrow clawed back to within one point, 44-43, after Huffman dialed in a three-pointer from the corner, with 28.8 seconds left.

But, Broken Arrow soon after begin to foul and Bartlesville knocked down its free throws to seal the win.

The victory upped Bartlesville’s record to 11-3.

Next up, the Bruins are slated to travel Tuesday to Tulsa East Central.

Friday semifinal report

Déjà vu with a sweeter twist.

Perhaps that concept best describes Bartlesville’s heart-throbbing victory Friday in the tourney semifinals.

With the final ticks of the clock draining away in overtime, Bruin sophomore point guard Castillo threw up a three-point prayer — and it was answered. The ball snapped through the cords to lift the Bruins to a 55-53 victory against the scrappy Bixby High School Spartans.

As the homecrowd erupted in sonic waves of thunderous cheers that crashed off the four walls of the arena and appeared to shake the lights, the Bruins danced and embraced with playoff-victory intensity.

Who could blame them?

Bixby had proven to be harder to scrub away than rust stains.

Trailing by 16 points late in the third period, the spunky Spartans had rallied to tie the Bruins, 47-47, by the end of regulation.

The Spartans then grabbed the first lead in a wild-and-woolly overtime, which would feature five lead changes, including Castillo’s game-winning trey.

His clutch hit was reminiscent of three years ago this week, when another Bruin sophomore point guard, Ramon Benson, drained a last-gasp three-pointer to lift the Bruins to victory — on Jan. 23, 2010 — against Harrah, at the Port City Classic (Catoosa).

But, Castillo did Benson one better. He produced his clutch bomb Friday in front of a horde of home fans and powered the Bruins into the championship game of their own tourney.

On a side note, the Bruins improved to 10-3 on the season — Bartlesville’s 13th consecutive double-digit win campaign since Tim Bart became head coach.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter Friday, however, Bart never expected the game to be decided in such dramatic fashion.

Through the first three quarters, Bartlesville’s 2-3 defense had suffocated Bixby’s offense like a claustrophobic’s nightmare.

The Spartans scored only 14 points in the first half, and they trailed by 14 points at the end of the third quarter, 45-31.

Hartsock had pumped in 19 points to lead the Bruins to their sizable lead, followed by Smith with 17.

But, Bixby turned the tide in the fourth quarter and would outscore the Bruins, 16-2.

The Spartans began the quarter with a 6-0 spurt, including a layup by Breyden Fivecoats that brought the margin under 10 points, 45-37.

Bartlesville finally broke its chilly scoring drought when Hartsock rang up a two-pointer, with about three minutes left, to bump the Bruins back to a 10-point lead, 47-37.

But, Bixby would finish regulation with a 10-0 run.

Logan Wilson began Bixby’s rally with a three-pointer.

Bixby eventually crawled to within three, 47-44, on an eight-foot deuce by Mitch Solomon.

Moments later, Wilson stole the ball and delivered a lob pass to Fivecoats for a transition layup to slice Bartlesville’s lead to one point, 47-46, with 40 seconds remaining.

A flurry of action ensued to the final buzzer. After Solomon’s hook shot missed — with the ball rolling off the rim — teammate Camden Selvidge battled Bruin players for the rebound.

Bartlesville was called for a foul on the play, with 1.8 seconds left. But, Selvidge suffered a dehabilitating ankle injury on the play and Joey Fiser had to come off the bench to shoot Selvidge’s free throws, with Bartlesville trying to cling to the 47-46 lead.

Bart called timeout before the first charity toss, to give Fiser more time to feel the pressure. Meanwhile, Bruin students ran around the top walkway of the arena to the other end to crowd the ledge behind the visitor’s rim and to try to distract Fiser.

To the delight of the students, Fiser missed the first free throw. Bart once again called time out.

When play resumed, Fiser swished the next charity toss to knot the score, 47-47.

Bart once again called timeout to set up a play, with 1.8 seconds left. But, the best the Bruins could get was a three-quarters court shot by Hartsock that missed everything.

Bartlesville won the overtime jump ball, but failed to score. Bixby then grabbed a 49-47 lead on Solomon’s 18-footer, from the left baseline.

Castillo — who had scored only two points in regulation — answered with a three-pointer to lift the Bruins into the lead, 50-47.

But, Bixby inched back ahead, 51-50, when Solomon buried two free throws with 2:07 left in overtime.

Bixby stole the ball back and worked more than a minute off the clock before committing a turnover, throwing the ball away on a pass to the corner.

Bartlesville brought the ball downcourt and missed a three-pointer. Following a scrap for the rebound, Bartlesville’s Jackson Bart was there to pick the loose ball off the court and sink a layup that pushed the Bruins back into the lead, 52-51.

But, once again, Solomon came through for Bixby, making a two-pointer to provide Bixby a 53-52 advantage, with only a few seconds remaining.

That was all Bartlesville needed.

The Bruins hurried the ball up the court, needing just a two-pointer to win it.

But, with time running down, Castillo had the ball on the left perimeter and launched a high-arching three-pointer that blasted through the net.

Bixby still had a couple of seconds remaining, but its last-gasp, halfcourt shot — and, with all the deafening noise in the gym, it was impossible to tell whether the ball had been launched before the final buzzer — hit the glass and bounced off the rim.

Like a bruising heavyweight fight, the junior varsity squads of Tulsa Central and Broken Arrow high schools slugged it out for six periods Friday afternoon in the consolation semifinals of the 2013 ConocoPhillips-Arvest Invitational boys basketball tourney.

Tulsa Central turned out to be the last one standing at the buzzer.

The Braves scored seven points in the second overtime to K.O. the Tigers, 81-76, at the Bartlesville High School Bruin Fieldhouse.

Ironically, it was a Tiger who proved to be Broken Arrow’s most powerful nemesis. Tulsa Central’s Kobe Tiger drained 20 points, including seven during the two overtime periods.